


Reboot

by criminal_intent



Category: Halt and Catch Fire
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Holidays, Mutual Pining, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-02-22 16:56:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13171218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/criminal_intent/pseuds/criminal_intent
Summary: Five years after Cameron and Joe break things off, Joe makes a surprising visit to San Fransisco for Christmas. Will the two rekindle that old spark for the holidays or has something caused them to officially move on from one another for good?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, names, or locations, save for the ones that never appeared in the show. If I did, I'd probably have a successful career in film now.
> 
> This entire story was supposed to be finished before Christmas, but....yeah, that didn't happen. Hopefully some of you will still want to read it!

_1999_

Christmas. It was officially eight days away and Cameron had effectively done nothing when it came to gifts. She was probably the worst gift giver in the world, but she usually had at least _one_ gift purchased by now. The most she had done so far was go to a Macy’s and aimlessly browse the men’s watches in hopes of finding something for Bos.

Cameron glanced at the calendar on her desk, and as if she needed a reminder, the block for December 22nd glared viciously at her, taken over entirely with the phrase, ‘DONNA’S CHRISTMAS PARTY’, in bold, red marker and sloppily circled several times. She let out a loud groan and her head fell with a _thunk_ onto her desk. God, she hated the holidays.

To put Christmas out of her mind, Cameron had effectively buried herself in work, continuously staying late nearly every night at the Phoenix building for a month straight. Not that working nonstop was out of character for her on a normal day, but she had gone slightly overboard, even for her own standards. But she honestly didn’t mind one bit. It was like a reincarnation of the passion she’d had for Mutiny, and she felt like she could finally breathe again after drowning in years of nothingness.

Phoenix had turned into a resounding success for Cameron and Donna, so much so that Donna had stepped down from her position of managing partner at Symphonic to put all of her focus into their little tech company. Electronic payments had been where everything had started to fall apart for them at Mutiny, but it had miraculously solved everything for them eight years later. But Phoenix wasn’t so little anymore. They now had thirty employees, and had even managed to snag Lev and Yo-Yo from their stable, big-company jobs to help them grow their passion project. Things were growing rapidly and they were going to have to hire a few more people in the beginning of the new year, which was a thought of that gave Cameron a horrible headache. 

A knock came on the frame of Cameron’s office door and her head quickly snapped up to see Donna’s head poking around the corner.

“Hey, do you have that usage report?” Donna asked. 

“Yeah, finished it a couple hours ago,” Cameron responded as she pushed her blonde hair behind her ears. She fished the blue folder out from underneath the mountain of papers, which was honestly just a reminder that despite working nonstop, Cameron still had a million things to do before the year ended.  

Donna crossed the room as Cameron thrust the report in her general direction. Briefly looking over the pages, Donna scanned them for any inconsistencies, and when she seemed satisfied, snapped the folder shut with one hand.

Expecting Donna to leave, Cameron turned her focus back to her computer, attempting to expel any thoughts of Christmas from her mind for at least another hour.

Still sensing Donna out of her peripheral vision, Cameron glanced up and was caught off guard by the the energy radiating off of Donna. It was an entirely different Donna than the one she had spoken to literally ten seconds ago. She was playing with the edges of the folder and suddenly looked jittery, like she had had ten too many coffees this morning.

“You all right?” Cameron asked, her eyebrows pulled together in a confused frown.

“I, um, need to tell you something,” Donna said hesitantly.

“Okay. Shoot,” Cameron said.

“Uh, I honestly don’t know how to approach this other than to be completely honest with you.” Donna paused and Cameron’s confused expression deepened. 

“Okay…” Cameron said, wishing Donna would just get to the point.

But suddenly, Cameron grew extraordinarily worried. Donna was rarely anxious or hesitant around Cameron these days, and this behavior gave Cameron pause. She was abruptly reminded of what Donna had done to her in 1986. She had no reason to believe that Donna would pull another move like that, but regardless, ice started flooding Cameron’s veins even though Donna hadn’t admitted to anything.

Sucking in an audibly deep breath, Donna finally blurted out, “Joe’s coming here for Christmas.”

Oh. Well, that was a bombshell Cameron had _not_ been expecting. She was simultaneously relieved and full of fearful anxiousness. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been back to California in the last five years, it was just that Cameron had visited her mom in Florida the two Christmases he had come back, so she had conveniently missed him each time. 

“Oh. Uh, okay,” was all Cameron could awkwardly say after Donna’s confession.  

With a little more composure Cameron added, “How long will he be here?”

“A little over a week. He’s getting in on Saturday night.”

Cameron let out a shaky sigh, still trying to wrap her head around the news.

Donna took a step forward and placed a hand on the back of the chair in front of her. “Look, Cameron, I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, especially since you’re spending the holidays with us. That was really selfish of me to not let you know when he first told us he was coming to town,” Donna said, worry lining every inch of her face.

Cameron nodded her head before she let out another sigh. 

“I’m not mad at you, Donna. Honestly,” Cameron said truthfully, though her her voice sounded a little too breezy compared to her usual tone. “I understand why you did it. It’s just going to be…weird to see him again after all these years.”

Pulling her brows together, Donna said, “Cam, I completely understand if you don’t want to come to the party or spend Christmas Day with us after this. No one would think anything bad of it, least of all me.”

“No, really, it’s fine. Maybe it will be good,” Cameron said, shaking her head in an attempt to convince herself. Good sounded like a stretch, but she had no idea how else to phrase it.

“Are you sure? Because I underst—”

Cameron cut her off. “Donna! I said it’s fine. We didn’t end on bad terms and we still email each other every once in a while. I think we’re mature enough now to keep it civil, at least for you guys.”

Donna gave Cameron a deeply guilty look, which Cameron could only return with a wide-eyed stare.

“Okay. Well, um, he moved to a new place a year ago and got a new phone number,” Donna said before she fished a small scrap of paper out of the pocket of her pants. “I don’t know if you want to call him or anything before he gets here, but here’s his number in case you do.”

Donna tentatively set the paper down in front of Cameron and went back to playing with the edges of the folder she was holding.

Cameron stared down at the phone number in front of her. Joe had mentioned getting a new apartment in an email sometime last year, but it had honestly slipped her mind.

“Oh, um. Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

Donna gave Cameron a smile of encouragement and opened her mouth as though she was about to say something else. She must have thought better of it because she snapped her mouth shut before turning around and shutting the door behind her.

A loud, shaky sigh escaped Cameron as she sat back in her chair.

Phoenix was everything she could have dreamed of and it had completely changed her life for the better, save for one thing: her romantic life. It was pretty much nonexistent, though it wasn’t like she put much effort into it. Every man she met was so subpar that she didn’t bother wasting more than a single date on them before completely cutting off contact. And besides, it always, _always_ came back to Joe, no matter how much she tried to push their relationship out of her mind.

Everything with Joe was a giant ‘what if?’ for her. What if she hadn’t given up on them without a fight? What if she could have stopped him from moving? What if she had gone to Armonk and made him take her back, like she had secretly wanted to do for five years?

Cameron knew that Joe was that one thing she was missing in her life, and she was sure that feeling would never go away. However, despite her longing for him to be a part of her life the way he used to be, she honestly couldn’t imagine how their reunion would be after all this time.

‘Good’ was definitely not how she would describe this whole situation.

 

* * *

 

Cameron stared at the cordless phone in her sweaty hands. She had already dialed the number twice and hung up before it rang. It was a Friday night, he probably wasn’t even home in the first place.

She and Joe had kept in touch via email and letters, but they had become fairly infrequent over the last couple years. They had once tried talking on the phone, but it had proven to be too painful and awkward, contrasting deeply with a different phone call six years earlier that had been full of hope and passion. Their call had ended on a stunted goodbye, with meaningless promises to call each other again. Of course, they never had. That had been three years ago.

“Come on, chicken shit,” she said aloud to herself.

Taking a deep breath, Cameron punched in the phone number once more, but this time she didn’t let her thumb slide over to the ‘end call’ button. She immediately started chewing on the skin next to her thumbnail, adrenaline making her a nervous wreck as the phone rang one time, two times, three times, before finally…

“Hello?” a deep voice asked on the other line, a voice that she hadn’t heard in three years, yet she was positive she could never forget no matter how much time had passed between them. 

“Hey, uh, hi, it’s me. It’s Cameron,” she said, silently cursing her social awkwardness. 

“Oh, hey!” Joe didn’t seem turned off by her stuttering because despite the shock in his voice, he seemed genuinely happy to hear from her. “How are you? This is a surprise.” 

“I’m all right. Busy, you know. Um, well, okay, I’ll just cut right to the chase. Donna said you were coming to California for Christmas?” 

Joe chuckled. “Yeah, I fly in on Saturday. I’ll be there till the 28th.” 

An impulsive part of Cameron wanted to ask if he was coming alone, but if he wasn’t, she wasn’t sure she could take the news right then and there.

“Oh, cool. I’m guessing you’ll be coming to Donna’s party then?” she asked, trying to maintain her facade.

“Yeah, and a few of her other get-togethers,” he answered before adding humorously, “Though Haley was the one who officially invited me to these before I even talked to Donna.”

“Sounds like her. I don’t think I was ever asked to come, Donna just told me about them and expects me to show up,” Cameron said with a laugh.

Joe chuckled back at her, but an awkward silence soon took over.

“So, um, I was wondering, did you want to get a coffee on Sunday, maybe? I know it’s last minute, but it would be nice to catch up with you before all of Donna’s parties and whatnot.”

“Uh,” Joe paused for a bit and she was suddenly filled with fear that she had made a huge mistake in calling him. Maybe she had read him wrong all along and he didn’t want her to contact him anymore? Or maybe he was fine with it, but had moved on, met someone else, and was bringing them to San Francisco, so he couldn’t actually meet up with her because of that?

Before she could come up with more reasons why he would say no, she heard papers rustling on the other end before he finally put her suspicions to rest, at least for the time being. “Yeah, I can probably do that at about 4. Did you have a place in mind?” 

“Yeah, how about that one coffee shop around the corner from your old place? It’s actually still there.”

“Oh, really?” he asked, clearly more surprised that she knew it still existed as opposed to the fact that the shop was still in business. She wanted to bang her head against the wall with how pathetic that made her sound.

Trying to save face, she said, “Yeah. I haven’t been there in five years, so it could be run into the ground now, but it’s still there. I’ve driven by it a couple times.” 

Cameron immediately thought, ‘Okay, that didn’t make it any better, idiot.’ There’s no reason she’d even be near his apartment considering it’s not on a main road or near anything particularly interesting. It just made her sound like a stalker, which was definitely not something she was going for. 

Joe laughed, brushing off her statement without a thought, and said, “All right. Sounds good. I’ll see you at 4 on Sunday.”

“Yeah, see you then. Have a safe flight, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks.” There was a pause as though he was planning on saying something else. He clearly decided against it because a moment later he simply said, “Bye.”

“Bye,” she said before she heard the click of the call ending on the other line.

‘God, this is going to be _great_ ,’ she thought bitterly as she dropped the phone on the counter with a _clunk_. Letting out a loud moan, she roughly grasped her hair in her hands before dropping her head on the granite countertop.

 

* * *

 

Joe zipped up the large suitcase, threaded the lock through the zippers, and clicked it shut. Standing back up, he tugged the suitcase up with him and rolled it closer to the door before turning back to the duffle bag lying open on the kitchen table. Double checking that he had all the necessary papers and toiletries, he also zipped that shut.

The TV was on, still playing a cartoon. He looked across the living room at the little girl with long brown hair who had previously been watching it with undivided attention. She was sitting on the ground in front of the coffee table and putting a coloring book and crayons in a brightly colored backpack. 

This was a sight he never thought he’d actually see in his home and even small moments like this warmed his heart in a way he’d never thought possible.

A year ago, Joe had started the process of fostering after several years of mulling it over. Teaching was great and he loved inspiring all of those bright minds before they set off for college, but just like in 1994, he couldn’t shake that paternal urge no matter how much he tried to shove it out of the way.

Eight months ago, he had been placed with a little girl, Charlotte Wills, and she had absolutely flipped his world around. It hadn’t taken long for him to fall in love with that sweet, precocious girl.

Her time with him had transformed her from shy and introverted to a happy little girl who couldn’t stop talking. Though her childhood had been far from perfect, she had adjusted incredibly well to life with him. Joe still couldn’t believe his luck that he had been so lucky on the first try.

And his luck only continued to grow. He had recently found out that her parents and grandmother had officially released her to the state and she was cleared for adoption. Joe was in the early stages of officially making her his own little girl, and his lawyer had reasoned that he had a very good shot at making it happen. 

“All right, Lotte, do you have everything?” Joe asked as he picked up the remote control and shut off the TV. 

“Yeah,” she said in response, standing up and zipping her backpack. She clumsily pulled her gloves on her little hands before actually buttoning up her coat, and when she struggled with the buttons as a result, Joe chuckled and knelt down to help her. 

“Are you getting excited?” Joe asked as he closed the last button near her neck.

“Are they going to like me, Joe?” she asked nervously, ignoring his question. This was something she had already brought up several times, but he chalked her anxiousness up to her rough past life and never berated her for it. 

“Donna, Haley, and Joanie are so excited to meet you. They can’t stop talking about it. They’re going to love you, Lotte. I promise.”

Her face lit up as she finally believed his words. Her big brown eyes were filled with excitement and she flashed a toothy grin at him.

Reaching around her, he picked up her scarf and looped it around her neck before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Okay. It’s time to go,” he announced as he stood up and went over to their luggage.

She shrugged her backpack on her shoulders as Joe gave the apartment a once-over to make sure everything was secure. He followed Charlotte out the door, rolling their suitcases behind them, ready for their first vacation together.

 

* * *

 

Cameron sat at a small table in the back corner of the coffee shop. She’d hardly slept last night and had gotten there about thirty minutes early due to how nervous she was. That anxiousness had not receded. She shook her leg as she picked at the skin around her pointer finger, her eyes trained on the door. Her coffee was probably cold at this point, but she couldn’t even stomach it if she tried.

She wasn’t exactly sure _why_ she was so nervous. She knew this man inside and out. She’d even lived with him for a year, for Christ’s sake! Though she supposed being away from him for long periods of time had always left her with a sense of unease. Even though they had parted amicably in the last attempt at their relationship, she doubted the longing between them would ever truly dim.

A bell rang as the door opened and a tall man with dark hair walked into the café. She started to feel lightheaded until the man fully entered and she knew immediately that it wasn’t Joe. 

She honestly didn’t know what to expect. His appearance seemed to change drastically every time she saw him, and she doubted it would be any different now. Joe had sent photos of himself over the years to Donna and the girls, but Cameron had only heard of this via Donna; she had no desire to actually see these photos, knowing it would be too painful and just a big, fat reminder of the life she had given up on too easily.

More than anything, Cameron was afraid he had entirely moved on from her. It was stupid of her to even wish that he still held hope for them, and she couldn’t blame him if he had found someone else. They had finally had a shot at a _real_ relationship and she had almost singlehandedly blown it—a fact that she had only been aware of after they had parted ways.

The bell rang again and this time when the door opened, she immediately knew it was Joe. Her mouth suddenly went dry at the sight of him. She noticed he looked remarkably like the last time she had seen him, though his face was clean shaven. His good looks had hardly dimmed, even though it had been over five years since they’d broken things off.

She waved at him and he took notice of her, letting out a wide smile. Pulling off his sunglasses, he walked across the room towards her.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, pulling her in a light, friendly hug, which she attempted to mirror.

“Hey,” she echoed, drawing back with a stiff smile.

He shrugged off his coat and draped it over the chair across from hers before announcing, “I’m gonna get a coffee.”

“Okay,” she said awkwardly as he turned around and walked up to the coffee bar. 

Sitting down heavily, she let out a sigh and watched his back as he talked to the barista. He looked remarkably calm and collected compared to her. 

What had she been thinking asking him to have coffee with her, _alone_? At least if she had seen him at Donna’s party, she could have bolted to another part of the house if things got too awkward.

Joe sauntered back over to their table with a fresh coffee in his hand. He flashed her another smile as he sat down before taking a sip and letting out a hum of appreciation. A hum that she embarrassingly found very attractive.

“So, how have you been?” Cameron asked him, trying to quash the redness that was flushing her face. 

“Great. Classes ended on Friday, so I finally have a couple weeks off,” he said with all the relaxation of someone with no immediate responsibilities.

“God, that sounds nice. I don’t even remember what a break feels like,” she laughed lightly. “How’s teaching life? Still good?”

“Oh, yeah. I love it. This year’s kids have been great. I can tell they’re going to make a big impact on the world, so it will be exciting to see where they go from here when they graduate in May. I’ve kept in contact with some of my other students and it’s nice to that their enthusiasm for learning hasn’t dimmed.”

“That’s really cool. You always were great at inspiring younger people,” she said earnestly. 

Joe smiled at her comment before saying, “At the same time, though, I’ve been considering going back to school to get my PhD and go into teaching college.” 

“Oh, yeah? Tired of teenagers now?” she asked with a smirk.

“They can be a bit much at times,” he said with an amused smile. “I guess I want a closer link to students and their careers, you know? It’s just something I’ve considered, so it’s not set in stone or anything.”

“I think you’d be great at that, too. Seems a little more up your alley.”

“Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself. How have you been? You’re blonde again, I see,” he said, gesturing to her light hair.

Cameron ran a hand through the strands. “Oh, yeah. I don’t really know why I did it. I guess I was looking for a change or needed something different to inspire me again.” 

“Well, you look good. Reminds me of your hair in ’85.”

“Yeah, except I managed to discover a brush since then,” she said with a laugh. He joined in on that before taking a long swig of his coffee.

Leaning forward, he asked, “Other than that, how are you?”

“I’m okay. Phoenix is crazy right now and we’re going to have to hire some new people at the beginning of the year. Honestly, just kind of waiting for this year to end,” she said with a shrug. She lifted her own coffee to her lips and tried not to cringe at the taste of the cold drink.

“Things going okay with Donna?” 

“Yeah, it’s been great. I mean, we still bicker a lot, but we learned a _lot_ since Mutiny, so things have gone a lot more smoothly,” she remarked, a lot more at ease now that she was talking about work.

“That’s good to hear. It’s nice to see you two working together again. You really did some of your best work together.”

“Thanks,” she said with a shy smile. Joe had never been one to throw around compliments, so when he said something like that, she knew that he truly meant it.

Cameron pushed her coffee cup to the side and asked, “So, how’s New York? Do you ever miss California?” She hoped her slightly desperate question wasn’t too thinly veiled.

Joe seemed none-the-wiser as he chuckled and said, “Sometimes. I like the changing of the seasons on the east coast, but these last two winters have been brutal, so this trip out here is a nice reprieve.”

They passed time with more meaningless conversation. Most of it was filled with questions they had already asked via email over the years with answers that hadn’t changed. After a while, Cameron’s usual blunt self was starting to rear its ugly head as she grew bored of their mindless chatter. There were things she wanted to ask him, had to ask him, and no amount of awkward small talk was going to be a good leeway into it.

“So, are you seeing anyone?” she asked, without much thought. She almost couldn’t believe she had the balls to ask that, but she had to know. It was something that always stirred in the back of her mind.

Joe looked extremely taken aback by her blunt question. This was definitely never a topic they had approached impersonally via email, much less in person in a very public place.

Joe cleared his throat. “No, not at the moment. Just focusing on some other stuff right now, so it hasn’t been much of a priority,” he said, every word dripping with hesitation. After a long pause, he added, “You?”

“I’m in the same boat. Too busy with work to really think about it,” she responded. That was, of course, a lie. She could make time if she really wanted to, but she hadn’t found a single person she’d wanted to make time for, save for the man sitting in front of her.

Now that she had the answer to her burning question, she tried to veer the conversation back into their previous small talk. “What sort of stuff are you focusing on right now? Seems stressful,” she said with another subconscious sip of her ice-cold coffee.

He seemed caught off guard by this question, too. ‘You’re really just going for the nosiest questions you can imagine, aren’t you?’ she thought.  Their emails and that single, stunted phone call had all been full of relatively vague news, so these questions seemed completely out of the norm compared to those. 

“It’s not really stressful, it’s just, um…” he trailed off, suddenly diverting his eyes from his gaze. Whenever he was at a loss for words, she immediately became concerned because if there was one thing this man was exceptional at, it was talking.

“What?” she asked.

He finally looked back at her. His eyes were guarded, like he was trying to gauge how she would react to whatever he was keeping from her. However, he didn’t let up.

“What?” she repeated, this time with more urgency. She was starting to get anxious that something was wrong with him.

He continued to stare at her for a moment before letting out a sigh.

“I’m fostering a kid right now,” he finally said in a hushed voice.

Her eyebrows rose in shock at that. While it was no secret that he’d wanted kids since at least 1992, she was surprised that he had acted on it, especially in such a selfless way. It was honestly hard to imagine Joe fostering a kid. 

“Oh… That’s…unexpected,” she said, hardly able to string together a sentence.

Joe ran a hand through his hair and gave Cameron a nervous smile. “Her name’s Charlotte. She’s four. I’ve had her for eight months now.”

“Oh, well, I’m really happy for you,” she said, hoping her words sounded halfway genuine.

“I know it’s something I should have told you considering it’s a huge thing in my life, but considering how things ended between us…” he trailed off, forgoing subtlety at the main reason behind their split. 

She nodded, at loss for what to ask next.

“I brought her to California with me,” he admitted next.

Cameron blinked at the newest bombshell he had just dropped on her.

“Does Donna know about her?” she asked, suddenly wondering if she was the only one who was in the dark on Joe’s foster kid.

“Yeah, she’s, uh, actually watching her now,” he announced, running his hand through his hair again.

“Wow,” was all she could say as rage suddenly washed over her. Did Donna have a habit of keeping everything from her now? Joe coming to town was one thing, but this? She had no words for the betrayal she felt.

Joe leaned forward. “Don’t be mad at her. I told her not to mention anything to you until I spoke with you about it,” he said, clearly trying to reason with her.

Cameron’s jaw ticked at his comment.

“Besides, I didn’t want to say anything until it became more official,” he said hesitantly.

“What?” Cameron snapped a little harsher than she’d intended.

Joe looked at her again, obviously trying to gauge what her reaction would be before admitting, “I’m in the process of adopting her.”

It felt like she had been punched in the stomach. While he may not be with someone romantically, he had officially moved on in other ways. This honestly hurt more than when she’d found out he had married Sara in 1985. A child was much more permanent than a marriage.

She averted her gaze. Tears started to annoyingly prickle at the back of her eyes and she blinked rapidly to try and will them away. She suddenly realized that this was _not_ how she had expected coffee with Joe to go over.

“Cameron?” he asked gently.

“Um… I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to say,” she said lamely, finally meeting his eyes again.

“It’s a huge shock, I know. She’s such a great kid, though. I’d really like you to meet her at Donna’s party on Wednesday.”

“Um,” she said again, feeling the need to bolt. She couldn’t very well end this conversation like this and leave the coffee shop. She did have the sudden urge to spend the entire Christmas season alone in her house, though. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and said, “What’s, uh, what’s she like?”

Cameron wasn’t honestly sure she wanted to know anything about this kid because learning more was just going to be like the final lock of the door on their relationship.

“She’s smart and incredibly sweet. Came from sort of rough beginnings. Her parents were into drugs and she lived with her grandmother until she was two before she was put into foster care. Bounced around a few homes for the first year and a half, and they weren’t the best. I finally got her in April. She was my first foster kid. Took her about a week to fully warm up to me, but she finally did, and it’s just…it’s incredible, Cam. She’s everything I could have asked for.”

Cameron stared at him and part of her was in awe of the soft look on his face as he spoke about Charlotte. His eyes lit up as soon as he’d started describing her. If she wasn’t so hurt by the whole situation, she would have been extremely touched by the love he so clearly had for his foster daughter. 

After several moments of silence, she quietly repeated her earlier words, “I’m really happy for you.”

She was happy for him, despite her anger and jealousy and heartbreak. It was a relief to see that he’d finally fallen into a good place in his life after so many rough years, even if that clearly meant any future between them was now completely out of the picture.

With a genuine and heartfelt smile, he said, “Thank you. That means a lot to me.” 

She could only nod in response.

His tone suddenly became more upbeat as he asked, “You’re coming to Donna’s party, right?”

She blinked in surprise at his change of topic. “Yeah, not sure I have much of a choice.”

“Good. I really want you to meet Charlotte, Cam,” he said with a hopeful nod of his head. “I’ve, um, mentioned you to her.”

“Oh, uh, really?” she asked, shocked that he would mention her to anyone in his new life in Armonk. 

“Yeah, she saw the pictures I have of you. She seemed very interested in you,” Joe said with a light laugh.

Cameron didn’t know how she should feel about that. She also didn’t know why Joe would want Cameron to meet Charlotte.

Seeing the confusion on Cameron’s face, Joe said, “She’s a very intuitive little girl, so I think she picked up on the fact that you were more than a friend.”

Cameron bit her lip and swallowed thickly. ‘Well, I wish I was more than just a friend now,’ she thought pathetically.

Joe pulled back his sleeve and looked at his watch. “Okay, well, I have to get going. I still need to do a little bit of Christmas shopping and then pick up Charlotte for dinner. I’ll see you Wednesday, yeah?”

“Mm-hmm," she hummed, following Joe’s lead as he stood up.

Shrugging on his jacket, he said, “This was really nice, Cam. It was great to see you again.” 

He pulled her into a hug like he had when he’d first seen her, though she didn’t return the hug with as much enthusiasm.

Joe took a final swig from his coffee and pitched it in the trash can a few feet from them before he gave her a wide grin and a wave of his hand. 

“Bye,” she muttered as he turned around and with the ring of the doorbell, he was gone, leaving her as blindsided as he had when he'd first told her about Charlotte.

The Christmas season was not getting any better for her, that was for damn sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all like this fic so far! This chapter was originally twice the length, but I felt like it was getting a bit too long, so I chopped it in half. Luckily, that means that the next chapter will be up very soon, since I only have half a scene to finish! I'm really excited about where this fic is going and I hope you'll stick around for the ride!
> 
> Comments and kudos are love <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I only own Charlotte, nothing else is mine or else my resume would be cool af.
> 
> Okay. I am SO sorry, guys. I got a HORRIBLE respiratory virus the day after Christmas and I'm JUST NOW kicking this thing. It's been a rough few weeks for me, to say the least. This chapter was about 80% done when I posted the first chapter, but I was just so out of my mind that I didn't want to attempt writing it lest it be in some made-up language.

Cameron stormed into the Phoenix building the next morning. All of the coders’ eyes fell on her as she made a beeline for Donna’s office, but she wasn’t paying them any attention as all of her energy was focused on that office door.

Normally, she would have kept this soon-to-be spectacle out of the office, but with Donna practically hosting Joe and his foster kid, Cameron didn’t really have the chance to ambush Donna yesterday after coffee with Joe. And boy, did she have plans to ambush.

Nowadays, a night’s sleep would have calmed Cameron’s thoughts to a reasonable level, but she found her old self emerging at this betrayal, and she woke up even more angry than last night. She honestly wasn’t even sure who she was so mad at, but Donna seemed like the easiest target, so despite the fact that it was hitting low, she was going all in.

Throwing open the door to Donna’s office, Cameron immediately blurted out, “So, Joe has a foster kid that you just so happen to know about?”

Donna jumped at Cameron’s sudden entrance and outburst, her eyes wide with surprise as she looked up from her computer. She opened and shut her mouth several times, but didn’t actually say anything, only managing to look like a fish out of water in the process. 

“Cam, I—” she started, but Cameron cut her off.

“A kid that he’s not just fostering, but planning on adopting?” Cameron asked furiously, getting louder with every word.

“Cam—”

“A kid that you not only knew about, but were also babysitting last night?!”

“Listen, Cam, I wasn’t doing this to hurt you—”

Cameron honestly didn’t even want to hear Donna’s excuses even if she knew deep down that this wasn’t even Donna’s secret to tell. She had to put this anger somewhere. 

“I deserved to know about this before he got here, before my dumbass went out for fucking coffee with him, hoping things would go back to normal! But no, that’s not how that went, was it? God, I am so sick of people always keeping things from me or twisting the truth! I don’t need protecting,” Cameron said aggressively, her voice most definitely carrying throughout the building.

Taking a deep breath Donna said, “I know you don’t. Cam, please understand why I did this. I didn’t mention Charlotte to you because I didn’t want to see you get hurt, not after everything that happened with Joe five years ago. It’s the same reason I didn’t tell you about him coming for Christmas until a few days ago, which you told me you weren’t upset about.”

“I’m not upset about that. This foster kid is different, though. You know that kids were the main reason Joe and I fell apart. I deserved to know about this.” She didn’t even care that she was repeating herself, she just needed to get this point across.

“I know. Look, I’m sorry, Cam. I just…didn’t know how to bring it up with you. If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t know about Charlotte ‘til weeks after Haley found out.” 

Cameron rolled her eyes and let out a huff. That did _not_ make her feel better. Of course Joe would tell Haley something before he told Donna. That wasn’t news to anybody.

“Like I said last week, you don’t need to come to any of these Christmas parties if you don’t want to,” Donna said, gently trying to coax Cameron into a less violent mood.

Guilt was evident all over Donna’s face. Cameron knew she had drawn the line when she’d started shouting at Donna, but when it came to Joe, all her old habits always returned. She may have matured into an understanding and much calmer person over the years, but lord, if there was one person who brought out her impulsive behavior and mood swings, it was Joe MacMillan. 

Cameron plopped down into one of the chairs in front of Donna’s desk with an exaggerated sigh.

“I’m really sorry, Cameron. I don’t know what else to say. I should have told you,” Donna said, her hands planted on her desk as she tried to reason with Cameron.

Cameron closed her eyes. “It’s not... It’s not you I’m upset with. I’m just frustrated with, I don’t know, myself? For everything that went on between me and Joe. And I’m obviously handling the news that he’s moved on _insanely_ well.” 

Donna gave her a look of pity, but didn’t say anything to that. It was no secret to anyone now that Joe was completely done with Cameron being in his life beyond a tentative friendship.

Walking around the desk, Donna perched herself on the edge of it in front of Cameron. “Hey, why don’t you come to dinner tonight? It will just be me, the girls, Joe, and Charlotte. You can meet her and maybe it will help you put everything to bed with Joe.”

Cameron gave Donna an incredulous look. “Oh, I don’t know, Donna... I just don’t think I can meet her. I know it’s been five years, but I don’t think I’d handle kids and everything any better now than I would have back then.”

“I know you’re not the biggest fan of kids, but she’s a really sweet little girl. And not to put pressure on you or anything, but your name got brought up a few times last night and I’m pretty sure she expects to meet you now,” Donna said with a half smile.

Cameron let out a groan and her head hit the back of the chair, her arms flopping over the armrests. 

“You don’t have to stay long,” Donna added. “Joe told me last night that things went well between you two yesterday.”

“I’m not really sure ‘well’ is how I would phrase it, but it didn’t end with us yelling at each other, if that’s a good sign,” Cameron mumbled.

Donna leaned in closer. “Come to dinner tonight. It will be casual. If things get too awkward with Joe and Charlotte, you can just talk to Joanie and Haley. You haven’t seen them in a couple months and they’d love to see you outside of these parties.” Donna paused before adding, “I won’t even yell at you if you come late.”

Cameron smirked. Over the years, Cameron had developed an annoying habit of showing up for things well after they started and Donna had no shame in calling her out for it in front of people.

Donna continued to look at Cameron with pleading eyes. Cameron wasn’t an idiot, she knew that this was Donna’s attempt at smoothing things out because if there was one thing that Donna thought worked out the kinks in life, it was a dinner party.

Shutting her eyes tightly, Cameron groaned and said, “God, fine! I’ll come! But you need to steer the conversations if they get too awkward and don’t play shitty Christmas music the whole time.”

Laughing, Donna said, “You have my word. I already know that it’s not going to be as bad as you think. You don’t even have to bring anything!”

Cameron rolled her eyes playfully. Her cooking skills had never improved over the years, so she had famously become the person to bring chips and a single six-pack of beer, no matter the size of the party. She knew it drove Donna nuts and Donna was constantly telling her to stop, but her immature side just couldn’t let up. This time, though, she had a feeling she’d actually listen. Just this once.

“Okay. What time?” she drawled, not particularly wanting to know the time so that she never had to think about it.

“Seven. It will be great, Cam. I’m making lasagna!”

“And your famous salad?” Cameron mocked. 

“Shut up,” Donna said, slapping Cameron on the arm. “But yes, that, too. You don’t have to dress up, you can come over in what you’re wearing now.”

Donna hopped off her desk and reached back over it to grab a few folders. “I have to get these over to Lev right now. Stay in here, though, because I want to talk to you about our budget for the new hires next month.” 

Cameron’s never-ending headache over the thought of hiring new people suddenly sprang up as Donna walked out of the office. Massaging her temples, Cameron let out a groan and sunk further into the chair. Jesus, her life was a shit-show.

 

* * *

  

‘Why the fuck did I agree to this?’ Cameron thought as she rang the doorbell to Donna’s excessively decorated house. She kicked a piece of gravel on the welcome mat with her black shoe, secretly hoping no one would answer the door and she could dart back to her car.

Donna said it was casual, so Cameron had thrown on a pair of jeans and a black sweater, both lacking any holes. She was fairly proud of herself for now having at least half a wardrobe stocked with fully intact clothes.

She finally saw Donna coming towards the door. The glass panels lining the house didn’t offer much in the way of privacy, but Cameron had deliberately avoided peering inside to put off this situation a little longer. 

Opening the door, Donna greeted her enthusiastically, “Hey! Dinner’s almost ready, come on in!”

Cameron stepped inside Donna’s cavernous house, noting that the inside was as elaborately decorated as the outside. She remained by the door, though, hesitant to go any further. She cautiously glanced inside the house, but she didn’t see Joe or his foster girl anywhere.

“And you aren’t even late this time!” Donna exclaimed as she shut the door behind them, a huge smile still plastered on her face. 

“I thought you weren’t going to call me out on that?” Cameron asked, trying to keep her wits about her.

“I never said I wouldn’t talk about the other times you were late,” Donna joked back. 

Desperate to shake off the nervousness, she continued with her off topic chatter, “Don’t you think you went a little overboard with the Christmas decorations, Donna?”

“Oh, shut up,” Donna said with a dismissive wave of her hand. 

“That tree’s taller than my house,” Cameron said, lazily gesturing towards the Christmas tree in the corner near the back door.

“No, it isn’t.”

Donna began marching towards the living room, and Cameron had no choice but to regretfully follow her. The dining table was set and when Cameron glanced further across the room, she saw that there were several drinks lying half-forgotten on the coffee table.

Donna must have noticed her wandering gaze because she said, “They’re all out back. I’ll go get them.”

Cameron almost blurted out a ‘no’, but she refrained as she watched Donna saunter to the glass door. Donna carefully avoided the pile of discarded shoes next to it. Cameron’s nerves shot up again when she noticed a very small pair that could only belong to a child.

“Hey guys, Cam’s here!” Donna as she pushed open the door. 

The darkness outside was punctuated by Joe’s laugh, and Cameron could just make out him and Joanie through the dim lights as they started moving back towards the house.

Pulling on the sleeve of her sweater, Cameron felt the insane urge to bolt out of the house and never see these people again. She had no idea why she was so nervous about meeting a kid, yet here she was, so anxious that she could vomit.

“Oh, my god! I haven’t seen you in so long!” Joanie shouted as she darted into the house, making Cameron jump a bit. Joanie’s long hair nearly choked Cameron as it swung in her face with the force of her hug.

Cameron saw Haley’s smiling face as she peered over Joanie’s shoulder. They had all clearly been lounging around the hot tub because her pants were rolled up and her damp feet left identical marks next to her sister’s on the floor.

“Hey! It’s so good to see you!” Haley greeted her, pulling her into a much less violent hug.

As she let go of Haley, Cameron finally saw Joe, and even though she knew this was coming, the sight before her was so unexpected that it made her freeze.

He was holding onto the hand of a little girl with long, curly brunette hair. She was half-hidden behind Joe’s leg as she shyly looked up at Cameron. Her large eyes shared the same depth and soulfulness as Joe’s, and if Cameron hadn’t known any better, she would have assumed this was his biological daughter. A tinge of nausea hit the back of her throat at that thought. 

With a smile, Joe said, “Cam, this is Charlotte. Charlotte, this is Cameron.”

Neither Cameron nor Charlotte said anything in greeting, just silently stared at each other.

He looked down at the girl and squeezed her small hand, saying gently to her, “Will you say hi?”

Charlotte half-smiled shyly at Cameron and let out a quiet, “Hi.”

Cameron was sure she shared the exact same nervous smile as she echoed, “Hi.”

With an adoring look at Charlotte, Joe said, “She’s a little shy around new people, but she’ll warm up soon enough.”

In her anxious state, Cameron hadn’t noticed Donna and was startled when she exclaimed, “God, Joanie! Haley! You two couldn’t wipe off your feet before coming in here?”

Joanie rolled her eyes and huffed before going into the kitchen.

Haley muttered, “Sorry, Mom.”

With a final annoyed glance at the wet footprints on the hardwood floor, Donna announced, “All right, dinner’s ready.”

Cameron, being her usual awkward self at get-togethers, just aimlessly looked around while everyone else got to work. Joanie and Haley began bringing the food over to the dining table, already engrossed in their own side conversation. Joe went over to Donna’s wine cabinet and began scanning the bottles inside of it before selecting two of them.

“I can help,” came Charlotte’s voice from beside Cameron, clearly eager to mimic everyone else.

“Here, Charlotte. You want to take these to the table?” Donna asked sweetly as she held a basket of rolls out to her.

Charlotte excitedly walked the basket over to the table and raised it above her head to push at far to the center of the table as her arms would allow her. The sight was cute, even to Cameron. Hell, she’d be an idiot to deny that this girl was pretty damn adorable despite only knowing her for thirty seconds. That realization slightly alarmed her. 

Joanie and Haley immediately sat next to each other on one long side of the table. When Joe and Donna took seats at the heads of the table, Cameron belatedly realized that she would have to sit next to Charlotte. Cameron sent a glare to Donna, who mouthed ‘sorry’ at her.

Cameron couldn’t deny that she was happy to see Charlotte was about as thrilled at the prospect as she was, carefully climbing onto the side of the chair closest to Joe with a slight frown on her face.

“Oh, my god. Cameron, did you hear about that accident on the 5 yesterday?” Joanie said, as she reached over and cut into the lasagna.

Cameron had never been so grateful for Joanie’s random outbursts in her life.

“I think so." 

“Yeah, I was stuck in that for four hours. _Four_ hours! I was seriously considering ditching my car and just walking the rest of the way here. Probably would have gotten here faster anyway." 

Cameron chuckled. Joanie had matured drastically, but her forward personality still remained. “That sucks. How’s LA?”

“It’s okay. I miss the weather up here, though. I think I’m gonna move back here in the summer.”

“Oh, really?” Cameron asked, excitement taking over her nerves for the first time. She’d grown rather close to Joanie once she’d left behind her angst-filled teen years and Cameron had been heartbroken when she’d moved south.

“Yeah. My mom probably told you that I broke up with Brian a couple months ago, so I’m just ready to get out of there." 

“Yeah… I’m sorry, Joanie,” Cameron said with a frown. Joanie had been with her boyfriend for three years and everyone had been relatively shocked when they’d ended things. Cameron felt for Joanie. She knew all too well what a rough breakup was like…

“Eh, it’s whatever at this point. I’m living with a friend right now, but when I get back to LA, I’m gonna see if my boss can transfer me to the office here,” Joanie replied with a shrug and took an enormous bite of her lasagna.

Placing a piece of lasagna and several rolls on her plate, Cameron turned to Haley and asked, “How’s Stanford, Haley?”

“Good! I—”

“Yeah, she got all A’s this semester, in case you were concerned,” her sister interjected in typical Joanie fashion. Some things definitely never changed, and for that, Cameron was glad.

“Joanie…” Donna admonished with a glare.

Haley continued, “But yeah, it’s really good. I love it there. I’m thinking about doing a semester in London next year. Kind of just playing it out and seeing if my courses will line up.”

“Yeah, your mom told me about that. Seems really cool. I would have loved to have done something like that in school,” Cameron said.

“I keep trying to talk her into it. She needs to get out of her little academia bubble and see the real world for a change,” Joanie said, though Haley only rolled her eyes in response.

Joe didn’t seem like he was paying much attention to their conversation. He obviously knew about all of these updates in Haley and Joanie’s life, most likely via Haley. Cameron tentatively glanced to her right and noticed that Charlotte wasn’t paying them any mind, just quietly chewing on her food like her foster dad. Cameron was impressed with the girl’s manners; she was pretty positive that she had been an absolute terror at the dinner table when she was a kid and had assumed that the majority of little kids were like that, too.

Once Haley and Joanie stopped bickering, there was a lingering pause. The big elephant in the room was starting to suffocate them all, particularly Cameron, who was almost choking.

Cameron knew she couldn’t ignore this kid forever, so with a deep breath, she asked, “So, uh, Charlotte, do you go to school?”

Cameron cringed. ‘Well, that was a stupid question, dumbass. Of course she goes to school,’ she thought to herself. 

“Yeah,” she responded shyly, clearly not planning on elaborating beyond that single word.

With a light laugh, Joe said, “Are you going to tell her what kind of school you go to?”

Charlotte looked at Joe with slightly fearful eyes, almost like she was begging him to end this conversation and let her stay silent for the rest of the night. Cameron wouldn’t hate him in the slightest if he did…

Joe’s eyes shifted to Cameron’s for a moment before he looked back at Charlotte with an encouraging smile. “Go on. She’s nice. She won’t bite.”

After an extended pause, Charlotte abandoned her staring contest with Joe and glanced up at Cameron before mumbling, “I’m in preschool.”

“Oh, yeah? Do you like it?” Christ, could she get any more awkward?

Charlotte nodded her head as Joe chimed in, “Yeah, she’s made lots of new friends over the last few months, haven’t you?”

“Mm-hmm,” was all Charlotte said. She began playing with her food, intently ignoring everyone’s gazes as she pushed the lasagna and salad around her plate.

That lingering silence was back and Cameron had no clue how to break it this time. ‘Hey, at least you tried,’ she thought, a small attempt at a mental pep talk, though it did nothing. God, Joe probably hated her for not knowing how to hold a basic conversation with Charlotte. 

“Hey Charlotte,” Joanie said with all the confidence of someone was _wasn’t_ significantly awkward with children. Charlotte slowly looked up. “Why don’t you tell Cameron about the birthday party you went to last week and all the prizes you won at Chuck E. Cheese’s? They were really cool!” 

Charlotte gave Joanie the same helpless look she had given Joe, though Joanie only smiled widely back at her, nodding her head in encouragement.

“Yeah, I didn’t get to hear it all!” Haley piped up, bearing the same grin as Joanie.

This seemed to give Charlotte a tiny boost of confidence and she gave them both a small smile. Joe must have been telling the truth when he said she warmed up to people because she already seemed close to Joanie and Haley despite only knowing them for a couple days.

Charlotte glanced back at Joe’s reassuring face before finally speaking, “I want to my friend, Katie’s party at Chuck E. Cheese’s last week.” Her voice was still quiet, but it gained volume with each word.

“Oh, I haven’t been there in years. Arcades are really fun. Did you like it?”

Charlotte nodded, her smile growing. “Yeah. We ate lots of pizza and cake and then Joe showed me how to play the games. Some of them were hard but I was good at some of them. I won lots and lots of tickets on the water gun game and the coin game and got to pick out prizes!”

It seemed Charlotte was finally kicking her shyness as she got further into her story, which Cameron was slightly glad about. It made this situation much less awkward.

“Oh, yeah? What’d ya get?” Cameron asked.

“I got some bracelets and necklaces and these stars that glow in the dark. Joe put them on my ceiling in my room. But the best prize was a _huge_ bear! It’s almost as big as me!” Charlotte said excitedly, opening her arms out wide.

“She was begging me to let her bring it with us here,” Joe chuckled over his wine glass, though he seemed the furthest thing from annoyed.

“You said he was too big,” Charlotte said, directing a pout at Joe.

“He is too big. He wouldn’t fit in our suitcases. Besides, he has to guard the house while we’re gone. Remember, Lotte?”

Cameron was oddly struck by Joe’s nickname for Charlotte. She had no idea why it affected her so much, but she had to take a rather big gulp of her wine to bring her back to her senses.

Charlotte situated herself so she was sitting on her legs now and could see everyone better. “Oh, yeah! He’s on the chair in the living room and he’s gonna make sure the house stays safe until we come back!”

“Does he have a name?” Donna asked warmly. Cameron really wished she possessed Donna’s child-loving tendencies right now, so she could think up easy questions like that. Why was this so hard for her? Jesus.

“Not yet,” Charlotte said with a frustrated frown.

“Well, while you’re out here, we can help you come up with a name for him, okay?” Donna said.

“Okay!” exclaimed Charlotte as she flashed a toothy grin back at Donna.

Joanie leaned forward and asked, “Charlotte, did you go into the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese’s? That was always my favorite!”

“Yeah! And we went in the slides! I liked the water gun game the best, though. It’s where I won most of my tickets!”

“Yeah? You like games?” Cameron asked, _really_ hoping this led somewhere because at least they’d have something in common.

“Mm-hmm. I’ve never been to a place like Chuck E. Cheese’s before but I like board games. Joanie and Haley let me play with theirs yesterday. I like Candy Land and that doctor game.”

“Operation,” Haley reminded her with a grin. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever played it. What’s it like?” Cameron’s interest was obviously more digital, but she couldn’t deny the fun of a board game every once in a while.

Charlotte giggled and sat up straight. “Well, you have this pick-up thing—”

“Tweezers,” Joe corrected her.

“Tweezers, and you have to pick bones out of his body and if you hit the sides, it makes a loud noise and his nose turns red!” Charlotte laughed at the memory again before continuing, “You win if you don’t touch the sides. I’m not very good at it, but Joanie and Haley are!”

Cameron noticed that Charlotte talked with her hands when she was excited, and it reminded her of Joe. She wondered if Charlotte had picked up on that trait in her short time with him. 

“Who won?” Cameron asked knowing that the competition would have been fierce no matter what game the sisters were playing.

“I did,” Joanie said sitting up proudly and giving Haley a smug look.

“Yeah, yeah,” Haley said with an annoyed roll of her eyes.

“We should play tonight! You should play with us, Cameron!” Charlotte suggested. She had all but forgotten about her food as she become more animated.

Cameron was mildly surprised at Charlotte’s invitation when only minutes beforehand she had been intent on ignoring Cameron. Looking up, Cameron saw that same look of admiration on Joe’s face that she’d seen when she’d first met Charlotte. There wasn’t a doubt in Cameron’s mind that Joe loved this little girl to pieces. She was starting to see why Joe had fallen for Charlotte so quickly, she was incredibly charming once she warmed up to a person.

“Okay. How about we play on teams? You can be on my team and we can make sure we beat Joanie and Haley,” Cameron said with a wink to which Charlotte eagerly nodded her head. 

“Have you ever played video games before?” Cameron asked, genuinely interested in this conversation now. 

Charlotte shook her head. “No, but Haley showed me some of hers yesterday. They look cool!” 

“Maybe I can show you how to play some of them over the next few days, if you’d like? I’m pretty good at them.”

“Modest, much?” Joanie asked with a laugh. “Cameron used to make video games, Charlotte. They were _so_ cool. We’ll definitely have to show them to you.”

“You made them?” Charlotte asked, awe etched over her face.

“She did, Lotte,” Joe said with a smile at Cameron. “She made all the pictures, the stories, and the rules for them. They meant a lot to us, especially when she didn’t live near us. They were a work of art.”

Cameron stared at him. Joe wasn’t one to shower people with compliments, so his praises always meant the world to her. She hadn’t designed a game in years, but she definitely missed it, especially when they gave her a way to feel closer to Joe. She reached for her wine glass and took another long sip, trying desperately to get rid of that annoying lump in her throat.

“I like art, too! It’s my favorite part of school!” Charlotte said, and Cameron was so glad for a child’s wavering attention span.

They spent the rest of dinner talking about Charlotte’s school and her favorite books and movies, occasionally interjected by short updates on Joe’s life. Every once in a while, Cameron caught Joe staring at her, and for some reason, it made her blush every time. She had to look away quickly and chime back into the conversation before anyone noticed anything was amiss, though she was sure it didn’t go past Joe. If he had moved on, why couldn’t she be blessed with the same ability? What was it going to take for her to get him out of her head? 

For the first time in her life, Cameron was _so_ happy that a child was present to divert the seemingly never-ending tension between her and Joe. She didn’t think she’d ever needed the distraction more than now. 

 

* * *

 

Charlotte excitedly followed Haley down the hall towards her bedroom, intent on seeing all of Haley’s ‘science toys,’ as she had put it. Joanie was animatedly telling her mother a story as they washed the dishes, consistently waving off anyone who tried to help them.

After dinner, they had all pulled out Joanie and Haley’s old board games and played whatever seemed the most interesting to Charlotte. Most of the time had been spent playing Operation until Donna told them to play another game because the buzzer was giving her a headache. 

Joe thought dinner had been an overall success, despite the stiff beginning. He was mostly proud of Charlotte for breaking out of her bubble and warming up to Cameron so quickly. It had been an issue he had been working on with Charlotte, and she impressed him more and more with each person she met. 

Cameron’s increasing attachment to Charlotte was what struck him the most about tonight. He couldn’t get it out of his head. He’d of course seen Cameron with kids in the past, but she’d usually ignored them and never made much of an effort to have a conversation with them. But he was so sure, _so sure_ that she would like Charlotte more than the average child, and he hadn’t been disappointed. It would have absolutely broken his heart if she hadn’t.

He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off of Cameron once she’d started talking to Charlotte. He had been completely enraptured. Something about the way she talked to Charlotte had reminded him of all those dreams of family he’d had back in 1994, and he stupidly let himself wallow in that fantasy for now. Unfortunately, Cameron had caught him in the act of a few of those stares and he’d had to take a long swig of wine to push back the embarrassment.

Once Charlotte and Haley were out of sight, Joe glanced to his side and saw Cameron quietly sneak out of the back door. Setting his wine glass down on the edge of the dining table, he followed her trail around Donna’s pool.

“You know I fell into this pool at one of Donna’s fancy parties?” Cameron said as she dipped her foot into the pool and kicked the water. 

A loud laugh escaped him. “What?”

She turned around to look at him, leaving a puddle under her foot. “Yeah. Fully clothed and completely underdressed, as usual. It was after you’d left for New York. I wasn’t really sure what to do after that whole Alexa mess, so I kind of just packed up the Airstream, hitched it to the truck, and planned to get the hell out of dodge. Came here to say goodbye, and had no idea Donna was having a party. I was about to leave when Haley’s computer crashed and I tried to fix that with Donna. We couldn’t do anything about it after a certain point, so I came out here to let her know I was leaving. Well, she was in the middle of this big speech, so after she wrapped up, I waved, turned around and then just…” Her arms flew open as she gestured towards the pool. “Right in front of Donna’s business partners and clients.”

He roared with laughter at the image of Cameron face-planting into the water. It was so like her that he had no trouble picturing it and it took him a while to stop shaking from laughter. Cameron eventually joined in, chuckling at the memory that was probably not funny in the slightest as it had happened.

Sobering up, she fixed him with a serious gaze. “I don’t know if Donna told you, but I, uh, stopped by your place before I came here that day.”

He mirrored her austere look. “No, she didn’t.”

He was thrown off by that. It wasn’t like Cameron to look back on things. 

“I came by to finally drop off some things you’d left at the Airstream. Walked right in the middle of a showing of your empty apartment. It was jarring, to say the least.” After a pause she added with a small laugh, “My life was like a walking sitcom that day, apparently.”

Guilt wracked through Joe. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving, but at the time—”

“No, I know. I was mad then, but hey, I had just up and left for Europe with Alexa and had no set return date, so how were you supposed to tell me? Through an email?” 

He frowned and looked down at the pool, the light breeze causing it to ripple lightly. Cameron had told him about the situation with Alexa via the emails they had passed back and forth to one another. Despite the time that had passed, the thought of Alexa brought back all of that anger and frustration, so he hadn’t pressed for more information on the matter beyond what Cameron told him.

“But I think the main reason I came by was to apologize for how everything ended between us. And everything with Alexa… I’m still sorry about all of it. You… You really didn’t deserve any of that.”

Joe looked up and saw that she was now staring at the pool, her arms crossed as the breeze picked up a bit.

“I’m not blameless myself, you know that, right?” he said with a sad smile. It was the truth, as much as he’d wanted to place the blame elsewhere, he was half the reason behind their split.

She turned her gaze towards him and a small, understanding smile spread across her face.

Laughter rang from the living room through the crack of the back door bringing them back to the present. They looked through the wide glass and saw Charlotte and Haley join the other two, Charlotte’s animated voice excitedly telling them another story.

“She’s really great, Joe.”

Peeling his eyes away from the scene inside, he glanced at Cameron. She wore a genuine smile as she looked back at the group. 

“Really, she is. You guys are so lucky that you found each other,” she said, sincerity ringing through every word. 

“Yeah, I don’t know how the cards were in my favor on this one, but I’m trying not to question it,” he responded with a glance back at Charlotte’s gleeful face.

Cameron took a step closer to him and dropped her voice a little. “I hope the adoption goes smoothly. She’ll be the luckiest girl in the world to have you as her dad.”

That genuine smile still graced Cameron’s face, and he had to swallow past the lump in his throat at her words.

After a beat, Cameron said, “Gordon would have loved her.” 

He drew in a shaky breath at that. He wished more than anything that his closest friend had been able to meet the little girl who had turned his world around. “Thanks, Cam. That means a lot.” 

“Well, I think I should get out of here. I have a lot of work to do before all of Donna’s crazy parties take over my life this week.”

Taking a step forward, she gave him a light hug. “I’ll see you Wednesday, okay?”

Nodding, he smiled and echoed, “See you.”

Joe watched as Cameron walked back into the house and said her goodbyes to everyone. He was fairly shocked to see her crouch down to Charlotte’s level, a grin plastered to her face before Charlotte reached out and gave her a hug. That tinge of hope of family was back at the sight.

He shut his eyes with a sigh. God, he was so stupid. Was bringing Charlotte here a bad idea? He should have known there was a big chance that Charlotte would fall in love with Cameron, and he didn’t know how he was going to take her away from Cameron without a million questions on her part.

He kicked the water in the pool and watched it splash over the other end. This was not good. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this chapter! It was a long time coming, but I like how it turned out! Let me know what you all think of Charlotte so far! I'm pretty partial to her ;)
> 
>  
> 
> I didn't do this on the last chapter, but I want to give an ENORMOUS shoutout to ofplanet_earth. She was the one who came up with the idea of Joe having a foster kid, so this fic would be completely different without her help. Thanks a ton, girl!!
> 
> Comments and kudos are love! <3
> 
> As always, you can come bother me on Tumblr at paceofbase!


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